


Fleeting Domesticity

by valkyrish



Series: No Time for Romance [3]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sex, Morning Cuddles, Romance, Space Married with Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrish/pseuds/valkyrish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing and everything has changed. War rages on, but life does not stop, and Kanan and Hera have learned to appreciate what little time they have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fleeting Domesticity

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly AU because it takes place after my stories A Meditation on Strength and Pulse. Contains spoilers through Call to Action, but it was written before Fire Across the Galaxy.

Hera started when Kanan jerked out of sleep. His body went rigid and he tried to sit up, jostling her in the process. His hands, gentle but frantic, grasped at her back and she was alert.

“Kanan,” she gasped, pushing herself up to look at him. His stricken face flooded with relief when their eyes met. Still, his deep breaths went all the way to his shoulders. “What is it? Nightmare?”

His lips turned up in a small smile as he looked at her.

“No. Best sleep I’ve had in a long time, actually.” He sat up and steadied himself against the wall behind her bed. The next deep breath he took was calming rather than panicked. “A little too good. For a second there, I thought…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but Hera understood. She moved to sit next to him, laying her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for a while before he reclined once more, lifting his arm so that Hera could settle underneath it. It was a calm silence, but Hera’s mind kept drifting back to Kanan’s absence.

She was ready to listen, but he said no more. Part of her wanted to tell him that she didn't know what she'd do without him, that losing him had ripped her apart, that she had never once doubted her ideals before then, but the words didn’t come. This wasn’t about her, and none of it mattered. She knew he would do it all over again, because in his place, she would have made the same decision.

Without realizing it, she sighed. Kanan responded with a drowsy, confused hum, and she looked up to see his brow furrow. Her heart ached at the sight, and for neither the first nor the last time since his return, relief surged within her. She tightened her arms around him.

"All those years I spent telling you we couldn't be together. I was just fooling myself.” The words came tumbling out, muffled against his skin.

"Hera." On more than one occasion Kanan had confessed how much he loved her voice, but his was soothing to her as well, especially when it was low and soft and saying her name. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but we've been together this whole time.”

"You know what I mean.” She gestured to their current state. “Like this.”

Kanan chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, because this," he copied her gesture, "is incredible. But it’s not what gave me hope when I needed it.” He paused, laying his arm down over her back. “All I cared about was that you and the others got away.”

She nodded, but the cost of the mission still stung, and Kanan had the scars to prove it. Though she had tended to his wounds days ago, she was as mindful of the marks of his interrogation as if they were still raw, but the mental scars were far more troubling.

“I haven’t always done things right, but I haven’t had any regrets since I met you.” Stretching his arms out and linking them behind his head, he added, “Though I gotta say, I could get used to waking up like this.”

She laughed. “I suppose it’s not so bad,” she replied, following his attempt to lighten the mood.

“ _Not so bad_?” Kanan asked, imitating her tone. “It’s my breath, isn’t it?” She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she pulled herself up to his eye level and answered him with a lingering kiss.

The way he responded told her he didn’t care, either, but the taste in her own mouth actually was starting to bother her. It had never been an issue before, but then again, she had never stayed around this long before.

Breaking contact, she reached over him to the shelf next to her bed and grabbed the water she had insisted he drink last night. There was still some in the cup, so she took a sip to moisten her parched throat and passed it to him. He downed the rest of the water before tossing the paper cup aside with a playful smile.

“Better?” she asked. His smiled softened, and the look in his eyes was full of warmth.

“Perfect.”

There was too much to do (and the walls were too thin) for moments like these to be frequent. But it was only going to get worse as the rebellion gained momentum, and that was all the motivation Hera needed.

She climbed over him so that her knees were on either side of his hips, and Kanan’s eyebrows quirked up. He didn’t need to be told that the conversation was over; his hands floated over her hips, one sliding up the curve of her back to rest behind her neck. With an arm on his chest, she leaned into him, tangling a hand in his hair. Her fingertips grazed his scalp and his response was lost against her mouth.

Kanan pressed a palm to the base of her spine and she arched her back—then a loud bang resounded from the main cockpit, sending them apart. Both were ready to react to the threat until Ezra and Zeb’s not-so-muffled argument carried through the ship.

Hera couldn't help but smile. She pressed her forehead to Kanan’s, feeling him shake his head. When she pulled back, he smiled as well.

“You know,” he mused, “we'll have to be discreet in front of the kids.”

Hera stroked his chin with a thin finger. "No more than usual."

She shifted off of him, but when he started to get up, she stopped him with a hand to his sternum.

“I’ll go,” she said. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and got out of bed. “You stay and rest.”

“I think I can handle it,” he protested. Hera was already dressing herself in something more substantial.

“I’m sure you can, love, but it’s my ship they’re destroying. Besides,” she threw him a sly look over her shoulder, “your hair is at least a megaparsec shy of discreet.”

“Yeah, but you love it,” he replied, a wicked little smirk on his face.

Hera couldn’t argue with that. With one last fond look, she left to investigate.

Before complying with Hera's wishes, Kanan retrieved his shirt from the floor and put it on. The yelling had quieted by the time he settled back into bed.

He only intended to humor Hera for a few minutes, but surrounded by her scent, it was difficult to keep his eyes open. A little more sleep couldn't hurt, he reasoned, especially not the peaceful, dreamless kind that came so easily here.

**Author's Note:**

> This series is done! Thanks for reading. I will never be able to express how much I love and appreciate anyone who reads my stories.


End file.
